Hitchhiker's Guide to Openbsd

1 - Introduction to OpenBSD
Table of Contents
●
1.1 - What is OpenBSD?
●
1.2 - On what systems does OpenBSD run?
●
1.3 - Why might I want to use OpenBSD?
 
●
1.4 - Is OpenBSD really free?
 
●
1.5 - How can I help support OpenBSD?
 
●
1.6 - Who maintains OpenBSD?
●
1.7 - When is the next release of OpenBSD?
 
●
1.8 - What is included with OpenBSD?
 
●
1.9 - What is new in OpenBSD 4.9?
 
●
1.10 - Can I use OpenBSD as a desktop system?
 
●
1.11 - Why is/isn't ProductX included?
 
1.1 - What is OpenBSD?
The 
OpenBSD
project produces a freely available, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating 
system. Our 
goals
place emphasis on correctness, 
security
, standardization, and 
portability
. 
This FAQ specifically covers only the most recent release of OpenBSD, version 4.9. 
1.2 - On what systems does OpenBSD run?
OpenBSD 4.9 runs on the following platforms: 
●
alpha
- FTP only 
●
amd64
- Available on CD 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq1.html (1 of 8)9/4/2011 10:01:48 AM

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1 - Introduction to OpenBSD
●
armish
- FTP only 
●
hp300
 - FTP only 
●
hppa
 - FTP only 
●
i386
- Available on CD 
●
landisk
 - FTP only 
●
loongson
- FTP only (new) 
●
macppc
- Available on CD 
●
mvme68k
 - FTP only 
●
mvme88k
 - FTP only 
●
sgi
 - FTP only 
●
socppc
- FTP only 
●
sparc
- FTP only 
●
sparc64
- Available on CD 
●
vax
- FTP only 
●
zaurus
 - FTP only 
Available on CD means the 
official CD set
 includes that platform and a number of 
packages
. Base 
system CD ISO images can also be downloaded for most other platforms. 
More information on OpenBSD platforms can be found on the 
Platforms
page. 
People sometimes ask why we support so many "odd" machines. The short answer is, "because we want 
to". If enough skilled people (sometimes, "enough" is only one really skilled person!) wish to maintain 
support for a platform, it will be supported. There are practical benefits to keeping OpenBSD multi-
platform: when new platforms come out, the code tree is relatively free of portability-breaking bugs and 
design flaws. The OpenBSD platforms include 32 bit and 64 bit processors, little and big endian 
machines, and many different designs. And yes, supporting "unusual" platforms has helped produced a 
higher-quality code base for more "common" platforms.